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I am loving the enthusiasm surrounding vegan week! Even if you love your animal protein (and believe me, I do too), an excuse to add more plants to our diets is never a bad thing.

But as a past (yet brief) vegan, I find myself noticing a huge part of veganism has thus far been neglected.

The point of veganism is to stay away from all animal products. But that doesn’t end with what we put in our bodies. It also includes what we put on our bodies.

I’m talking leather.

Suede.

Fur.

Down.

Wool.

Silk.

To me, veganism doesn’t end at the food. 99% of people make the choice to be vegan because they take issue with animals being hurt and used for our benefit.

I guess it’s all about finding where you want to draw that personal line. There are some vegans out there who believe wearing wool is cruel to the animal and won’t have anything to do with it. Then there are vegans who just don’t want to digest anything that came from an animal.

I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way to do it. It’s all about making choices that suit you. However, it is definitely food for thought. If I were to ever do veganism again, I would probably try to stay away from all animal-derived products because it’s what makes sense in my brain and in my gut. But I would never poo-poo on someone who thinks that’s silly.

For example, there is one vegan “rule” that I just can’t get down with.

Honey.

Bees run on instincts. They don’t have a central nervous system. I’m not sure what the environmental impact of farming them is. But in my own “Hypothetical Vegan Creed” honey is is a-okay.

I grew up eating peanut butter and honey sandwiches every day that my dad packed us for lunch. Of all the things in the world to pair with peanut butter, honey is probably my favourite.

Why then, why, has it never occurred to me to put this dynamic duo on top of oats?

Wonderful questions and feedback on my last post: Ripped Arms: A How-To Guide. I made some clarifications in the comments section if any of you are interested. In terms of designing an arm workout, 2-4 sets of 8-15 reps of each a shoulder exercise, triceps exercise and biceps exercise, 1-3 times a week, is enough to do it. Got that? Just don’t forget about your other muscles too! ;)

10 yrs of yoga gave me a foundation for everything, 4 mos of lifting is giving me some size :)

Couldn’t agree more. If you’re already athletic, but still want to see more arm definition, heavy weight lifting will get you where you want to be in no time.

Now this is where I seamlessly transition to talking about FOOD.

I really just want to show this pic of Sunday’s breakfast because my toes are stealing some of the spotlight in the bottom right of the frame :P One of the reasons why I love reading food blogs, as opposed to professional food publications, is the level of “real life” you get from photos such as these. Hello toes!

Okay, now that we are done ogling at breakfast, I must introduce you to Sunday’s lunch!! Sister Sara had tickets for a play and the theatre is conveniently located across the street from an amazing vegetarian buffet called The Table. I grabbed a little scoop of everything that struck my fancy. I’m a sampler.

As well as a bit of lentil quinoa salad and dandelion greens. The salads were a little lacklustre (surprisingly!). The hot foods were my favourite. Especially the braised onion and tofu patty. I want to recreate both!!

As we were leaving, Sara heard that you get 20% off if you’re going to see a play. We’d already paid, but we wanted our discount!! So we went back after the play for tea and dessert :)

I was still stuffed from my meal, so I stopped myself from grabbing a gazillion cookies and went with what looked unique.

Not your typical coconut pie. It was surprisingly light and fluffy, not at all chewy like a macaroon. A touch bland though, so I topped it with this:

Vegan rice pudding. I’m assuming it was made with coconut or soy milk. Made for an excellent pie topping actually!

Apple & mixed berry crumble with whipped cream. This was my favourite of the desserts. You can never go wrong with cooked apples.

And the tea!

The perfect flavour to pair with the desserts I’d chosen. I love me some chai!

Sara being her usual social butterfly self.

Me, being my usual contemplative self.

Another highlight from Sunday was biking down to one of Ottawa’s beaches. It may take a while for the idea of a beach not meaning “ocean” to sink in.

Sara and her sweet new bike pump. She’s a cycling queen.

Me just looking awkward :P My biking adventures in Ottawa have been my first of the season. It would be an understatement to say they came with a little apprehension. In fact, I had a moment of sheer panic within minutes of being back on the bike. But yesterday I started to feel relaxed again and less like I was chained to a death trap. Also impressed by how strong my legs got over the winter – hills are nuthin’ to me now!

Because of my new-found ease, we opted to take the long way home and enjoy some of the (weird) sights Ottawa has to offer.

Inukshuks on the river!!

Clearly, we had to stop and take silly photos with them.

I just wish I’d read this sign first. I maaaaay have decapitated a statue :\

Today’s breakfast had a significant lack of biscuits.

Eggs and bacon were instead eaten between two seedy pieces of bread with mayo, lettuce and tomato.

I made a fruit salad for us using watermelon, banana, cherries, lime juice and some of this stuff:

Peppermint honey!

From Alberta! It was very pepperminty, but added a nice refreshing kick to the salad.

Let’s see… there was also a notable breakfast dessert.

I love that my sister agrees with me that it is very important to have quality chocolate in the house at all times.

Camino Coconut gets a thumbs up!

It took me a really long time to get motivated to go the gym today. I am having motivation issues lately. I’m thinking it may be resolved once I finally get settled in Toronto (moving Thursday!). Until then, I forced myself to do a full-body lifting workout.

Started with a 10-minute run to the gym. I did three sets and 10 reps of everything. Colour-coded to indicate which exercises were supersetted together (ie no rest in between alternating sets).

I went up in weight on my squats… yayy!!! Only 60 lbs left to go until I reach my lifetime goal of squatting my bodyweight – ha!

Ohyes, then I ran the 10 minutes back to my sister’s place. Mygosh it was hot by then. Brutal.

Sister Sara said I had to try these tofu cutlets they carry at an organic food store called Herb & Spice.

I cut it up cold and put them on top of a salad (dressed with watered down hummus). I would have to agree with my sister, these are amazing!! It almost tasted like they were baked in cream of mushroom soup, but Sara says the spread vegepate on top. Genius.

Salad also included some wonderful local spinach – yum :)

Late this afternoon I continued my quest to find a decent cottage cheese in Ontario… Half a cup of Liberty 1% cottage cheese on top of the leftover fruit salad from the morning. It was good but still not great. Also, Liberty is significantly more expensive than other brands. I miss my Scotsburn 50% less sodium cottage cheese!! They need to supply outside of the Maritimes!

For dinner, I made Sara and I bison burgers using my mother’s method of locking all the juices in (start with a hot pan, then lower it down to cook)

Sara doesn’t keep ketchup in her place (the horror!), so I loaded up on the tomatoes, and ate it on pita bread. A Susan version of a hamburger thin if you will ;)

Roasted corn in the oven. So easy. Throw it in, husk at all, and cook at 400F for 30-40 minutes.

Yellow zucchini roasted in rosemary and olive oil. I could never find this anywhere back home!!

All yellow vegetables tonight :)

Sara and I then sat around contemplating what we could do this evening. We both agreed dessert was in order, but I’d already eaten three pieces of chocolate today (as I do every day, fyi).

Somehow we decided it was a good idea to walk 30 minutes to this delightful place called Oh So Good near the Byward Market.

We got a little lost on the way, but the extra walk was worth it. They had a wide array of different cakes and sweets. My eyes immediately set on the white chocolate mousse cake.

Seriously you guys, I’m not a huge cake person, and I loved every bite of this. Incredibly light and fluffy, with shaved white chocolate on the top. Both Sara and I agreed that the small layer of jam in the center made the cake.

Sara got a slice of the chocolate truffle cake. The chocolate was definitely of high quality and fresh because it was the first piece from the cake!

We both enjoyed our cake with a cuppa tea. We briefly discussed the calories in each slice, and agreed it was a pleasure too great to pass up.

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Welcome!

My name is Susan, I'm a 20-something living in Atlantic Canada and this is my blog about... me. I used to blog about food and fitness, but that all changed in June 2011 when I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. After six months of chemotherapy, I was declared cancer-free in January 2012. I now write about anything and everything as I stumble through my post-cancer world. I'm a trained journalist currently working as a writer/researcher. I also have a background in personal fitness training and nutrition. Welcome to my piece of the internet!
See my About page or Top Posts page for more.

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E-mail me at: thegreatbalancingact@gmail.com

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